Bridgestone Arena Offseason Renovations Include Improvements to Preds Players' Lounge, Training Areas

In a sport and a League where no competitive advantage is too minuscule to ignore, Predators players will return to a first-class space before they take the ice this October.

Work is already well underway on areas in and around the Preds locker room on the event level of Bridgestone Arena, specifically to make the players’ lounge, trainers room and surrounding spots among the best in any building across the NHL.

The sounds of drills and hammers are commonplace at the home of the Predators in the summer months, and at this juncture, it’s spaces below the stands getting the all-important makeover.

“It's not just for show, the continuous improvement - it’s actually continuing to improve every single year,” Predators CEO Sean Henry said. “The players, they want to make sure the investment that they're making in training and the time they’re spending in those spaces is being matched with facilities for them to better train and make it more welcoming.”

So, how exactly does improving the players’ lounge, restrooms and recovery areas help in the grand scheme of things? Well, it matters more than one might think.

“It really is our organization saying, ‘Hey, we're moving forward and we're not sitting back on our heels, no matter what,’” Preds Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations and Relations Danny Butler said. “It doesn't matter if we had a great season or a lesser season, we're moving forward and we're constantly going to get better.”

“I think it just shows the investment of we're doing everything we can to win; to put ourselves in the best position to be the most competitive we can be by investing into these guys and in the Arena,” Preds Chief Strategy Officer Kyle Clayton said. “There's just that commitment that we're doing everything we can to put all our resources behind the team.”

No detail in spaces such as these can afford to be overlooked, and that’s exactly what members of the Preds Hockey Operations department - including General Manager Barry Trotz - teamed up with those on the business side of Nashville’s front office to do.

The players’ lounge - a communal space that is essential for a professional hockey team to gather, share a meal and just hang out - is just off the main locker room, but it’s being doubled in size. What was formerly the training room has now been added to the space of the lounge, and the expansion will allow for a built-in kitchen with plenty of serving areas, seating options and different spaces that simply didn’t exist in the previous iteration.

The trainers area - which includes offices for Predators Head Athletic Trainer Kevin Morley and his staff - will increase in size to allow more space for players to receive treatments and care at all times.

Additionally, the Preds will be able to add what they’re calling a recovery room - complete with hot tubs, cold tubs, hyperbaric chambers, Shiftwave systems, light therapy and more - all designed to provide players with improved opportunities for around-the-clock rejuvenation.

Plus, the general restroom area is also receiving an upgrade to give it more of a spa-like feel with saunas and improved showers, toilets, sinks and the like.

Predators staff took inspiration from other facilities - like the state-of-the-art practice facility recently opened by the Florida Panthers - before making these upgrades unique to Nashville and the space that’s afforded within Bridgestone Arena.

Of course, the Arena is set to undergo a massive renovation of its own over the next five years, but that didn’t mean the Preds were simply going to wait to change anything until then.

"The biggest thing we want to say over the next four years is even though we're going to be under construction, doing different things, we're still trying to make the experience better for players, fans, performers and everyone who comes to the Arena,” Butler said. “This is one of those things that we're doing. We’re still investing in our current spaces to make them better while knowing that the grand remodel is coming too.”

“We want to focus on performance and winning, and this is an opportunity to continue to upgrade the team’s experience, both the players and the staff,” Clayton said.

Ultimately, the renovated areas will continue to be utilized once the full renovation of the building takes place, but now is the right time to start. So, while a better restroom and kitchen may not seem like the highest priority, it all matters in the end.

Now, a facility that was already impressive will be that much better, and it’s just the beginning of the overall transformation.

“We're not resting while we're waiting for this new plan of renovation,” Clayton said. ‘We are still investing today to make our experience better for everyone, specifically our players with this project.”